Chapter 10: Tower Of Hera

'My Experience is locked, how on earth will I level up now? What is happening with my system!?' Zoey panicked, clutching her heart in worry as she continued to stare at the screen.

As she stood there for a few seconds, basking in confusion and a sense of loss, the system window changed and displayed vital information to her, leaving her with wide eyes as she continued to read.

[Information: In order to advance to the next level, the Host would need to complete a trial in the Tower Of Hera.

Once a trial has been completed, the host will regain their ability to level up once again. However, once after the host has levelled up soon after that, another trial must then be conquered to be able to level up again.]

'Oh, I see...' Zoey thought for a moment, breathing a sigh of relief. Before snapping to her senses and quickly realizing something important.

'How do I enter the Tower Of Hera!?' Zoey realized, panick setting back into her body.

[Additional Information: To enter the Tower Of Hera, the Host must enter a deep state of sleep.] The additional information was plain and simple, a sense of doubt crawling up her spine.

'That's it? Sleep?' Zoey thought, still in doubt. She removed her gaze from the screen, and looked deeper into the dungeon.

'I still want to clear this dungeon, I understand the need for completing the Trial to be able to level up again, but that can wait honestly, I won't be happy if I leave my first dungeon ever completed.' Zoey thought, determination etched on her face.

She closed her status window and proceeded to walk deeper into the dungeon. Her mind instantly drifted to the tower, what was it like? What was the tower even? What would her first trial be? And would she be able to conquer it?

'This feels like a dream...' Zoey thought, first the A Hundred Times System, then her two Talents, and now the Tower Of Hera? She gently slapped her cheeks, just in case this indeed was a dream.

Thankfully, it wasn't, and even if it was one, she would've hoped that she never awakened from it if that were the case.

Zoey soon discovered more goblins in the distance, by narrowing her eyes a little, she immediately zoomed in on their location like a hawk. By focusing more on their Mana levels, Zoey discovered that these goblins had a new aura she hadn't seen before.

It was blue.

'Blue auras?' Zoey thought, immediately recounting the two auras she had seen before. Red represented opponents stronger than her, while white auras represented opponents that were on the same level, or close to her strength in terms of stats and ability.

'Weaker? Are these guys weaker?' That was the only logical conclusion Zoey's mind could come up with, as it also made the most sense to her in that moment.

'Only one way to find out I suppose.' Zoey thought, approaching the goblins.

The goblins were Goblin Bandits, not a single tank was among them. The goblins turned their heads to face her, and immediately after locking eyes with her, they felt a chill run down their spine, their strength leaving their body as they uncontrollably trembled in fear.

'Their definetly weaker!' Zoey thought with a grin, realizing that she was right. Zoey tightened her grip on her daggers, steeling herself as she immediately broke a sprint.

The ground beneath her feet shattered, leaving a large shoeprint deeply imprinted into the ground, a spiderweb of cracks forming around it. Zoey's figure quickly closed the distance between her and the goblins, before they could react.

'Holy crap I'm fast!'

Zoey then delivered a brutal slash to one of the goblins, before the blade impacted the monster, a bright blue glow sparked from the blade for a moment. Immediately, as the blade made contact, it sliced clean through the goblin like a hot knife cutting through butter, and the goblin was cleaved cleanly in half.

'Huh.....' Zoey thought as she stood over the goblin corpse, wildly spraying a fountain of blood. She stood there for a few seconds, struggling to comprehend her massive leap in attack power.

'This is insane! So that's what the Clean Cut effect does, it effortlessly went through it's body without any resistance whatsoever.' Zoey thougnt, staring at the bloody [Stone Dagger] In her hand.

Zoey then turned her attention to the other goblins infront of her, their expressions held shock and trauma as they saw their brethren cut in half effortlessly, despair gripped their hearts in that very moment.

Zoey quickly dashed once again, appearing behind another goblin, and swiftly slicing it's head off. The onslought continued as Zoey effortlessly dealt with the goblins, leaving behind a bloody and gruesome mess, their bodies dissapearing in a golden light, but no drops were secured from them.

'That was way too easy....' Zoey thought, still in shock. She shook her head, brushing it off.

'Having high stats like these makes this dungeon feel like a breeze.'

Zoey proceeded to walk deeper into the second floor, eventually reaching the third flight of stairs that would lead her into the third floor. Zoey gazed up at where the stairs lead, noticing a gentle beam of light shining through and illuminating the cave a small bit.

She began to ascend the stairs, each step filled with determination as she got closer and closer to the top.

'Argh!' Zoey covered her eyes with the back of her hand as the light blinded her.

After a few seconds, Zoey's eyes had adjusted to the light. As she removed her hand from her eyes, she immediately discovered that she was in a forest, with strange vegetation and a darkish-bluish grass covering the ground.

'Where am I? Is this the third floor?' Zoey thought, looking around the strange forest. She looked over her shoulder to see the entrance that got her here, it resembled a massive cave with strange runic carvings on it.

'Guess I gotta keep moving forward.'

Zoey began to walk deeper into the forest, her eyes observed her surroundings with keen interest, fascinated by the new world she had found herself into. However, she had always kept her guard up in-case of an hidden ambush, using her [Heightened Senses] to listen to the smallest details.

Just then, Zoey stopped dead in her tracks, she had heard the rustling of leaves. The sounds of ragged breaths, and small excited cackling around her. The rough sound of a string being pulled immediately caught her attention, before a sharp whistling sound pierced the wind and was rapidly approaching her.

'I knew it, it was way too quiet for what I'm assuming to be the final floor of this dungeon.' Zoey thougnt with an excited grin, her eyes moving with quick speeds and immediately locking onto the arrow that was approaching her. 

With a blur of motion, Zoey quickly caught the arrow in her hand, mere inches from her face. Before locking eyes with the culprit of a failed assassination.

"Hahaha...this is going to be fun."